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Renewable energy went up and carbon emissions flatlined in 2014.

For those of us who keep an eye on the macro-changes in the energy sector, the news is consistently apocalyptic: some variation on “We are all going to die, soon.” Perhaps realistic, but every once in a while, the news calls for a more optimistic outlook.

First we found out that global CO2 emissions stayed steady in 2014. Last year, the world emitted 32.3 billion metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere—the same amount as in 2013, the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental group based in Paris,announced. Sure, it would be better if we'd emitted less, but this is the first time CO2 emissions have stayed steady even though the world economy grew (at a rate of about 3 percent in the past year, according to Forbes). Every other stall or dip in emissions has been thanks to an economic downturn.